Flex, the great Malinois Belgium Shepherd retrieving at Quarantine – VIDEO
Flex was a very interesting character. He is the first Belgium Shepherd that I have minded.
Initially he bailed me up in his pen, and didn’t want anything to do with me. Trust had to be won. By the third week, the trauma of flying to Australia and being in quarantine had subsided and we were best friends.
This video shows the very playful side of a dog that was once bred for very serious guard duties.
If you look up Belgium shepherds you will see that there are four distinct types, Flex was a Malinois variety which most resembles the German shepherd.
Smart alert and now willing to please Flex became a pleasure to take the Spotswood quarantine yards.
In fact rather than have him stay at the opposite end of the pen when I visited, he would usually make it difficult to get into the pen without him trying to slide past me for his run, or jump all over me.
I have in fact never seen such a quick and profound transformation in a dog, after it has made its mind up to make the best of a situation.
The video is mostly shots of Flex retrieving on a bright sunny day in a great grass yard.
He soon worked out that once he retrieved the ball I was only going to throw it away again so a favourite game he would play is to run right up to me so I could pat or praise him, but then he would sit there chewing on the tennis ball.
The end of the video shows Flex the Belgium shepherd having a lovely back scratch, roll on the grass. The reason for the extended roll is that he was coming from a change in seasons (autumn to spring) and the grass was very lush in this yard. The other thing being that he would have experienced a very profound change in diet from his kibble to the quarantine kibble. Such quick changes can often lead to intestinal upsets and skin irritation.
For many reasons Flex was a fascinating dog. Not just that he was in perfect condition (as other breeders pointed out in the yards). but that he was so willing to fetch and receive affection from a stranger, one that he had previously treated with contempt.
We had a lot of fun over those four weeks. Bye Flex!
Article by Bruce Dwyer. If you wish to use any of this information please refer to the article as a reference and provide a link to www.healthydogtreats.com.au
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